The focus of our current research is the development of drugs for the treatment of AIDS. Specifically our group is targeting the reverse transcriptase of the HIV-1 virus. This enzyme is unique to the retrovirus and presents a unique target fo r computer aided drug design. The currently used drugs, AZT and DDI unfortunately have considerable toxicity and are made ineffective by the rapid development of viral resistance. We hope to develop a drug specific for the viral reverse transcriptase which is not a chain terminator and consequently toxic to healthy cells. In collaboration with the Kuntz group (UCSF) and Edward Arnold (Rutgers University) we are using X-ray crystallographic data and computer aided docking of potential inhibitors to target several unique sites with in HIV-1 Reverse transcriptase. Use of the Computer Graphics Laboratory allows us to determine which materials have best chance of producing a strong binding inhibitor by allowing us to visualize the potential binding site of our lead compounds.